


The Jesse, Willow, and Xander Chronicles of Denial

by jesterlady



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Fantasy, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Humor, Magic, Male Friendship, Male-Female Friendship, Pre-Canon, Pre-Series, Snapshots, Sunnydale, Vampires, Young, trio
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-04
Updated: 2014-11-03
Packaged: 2018-02-24 01:50:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2563832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jesterlady/pseuds/jesterlady
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jesse, Willow, and Xander have lived in Sunnydale all of their lives.  It would be impossible for them to have never encountered the supernatural before the Slayer moved to town.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Cookies of Death

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own BTVS.

See, the thing was that Jesse was Xander’s best friend. They’d been best friends for all their lives and Xander didn’t care if that only meant four years. Jesse was amazing! He was funny and liked all the same things as Xander and his mom made the best cookies in the world.

Xander liked being at Jesse’s house a lot. It was better than at his house where his dad would get really angry or his mom would cry and there were never any cookies.

“Mom says your mom is trapped,” Jesse informed Xander solemnly one day.

“She doesn’t have her legs stuck in nothing,” Xander said, puzzled.

“My mom said it was true,” Jesse said and then snatched away the action figure Xander was holding and ran off with it.

“Hey!” Xander shouted, running after him, laughing. 

“I’ve a better ‘magination than you,” Jesse said, then tripped and fell.

“I’m not so falling all the time,” Xander told him proudly, reclaiming his stolen toy.

“It’s good we’re together,” Jesse said after a minute of contemplation.

“Yes,” Xander said, because it was true.

There was a loud bang from down the hall where Jesse’s mom was visiting with Jesse’s aunt and making cookies.

“What was that?” Jesse asked, his eyes wide.

“Your mom making cookies?” Xander said doubtfully.

“Cookies don’t sound like that,” Jesse said scornfully and began to inch down the hall.

Loud rattling started to echo through the closed door ahead of them and Xander pressed his back against the wall. Jesse froze and didn’t move for a long time.

“Is your mom okay?” Xander asked finally.

“I want her to be okay,” Jesse said back, tears starting to fall.

Xander didn’t know what to do and he was really scared, but he pushed away from the wall and walked over to Jesse and took his hand.

“It’s okay,” he said. “Let’s go see.”

“What if it’s something bad?” Jesse asked.

“We’ll be together,” Xander assured him.

Jesse nodded and wiped at his eyes with his hand.

Together they inched down the hall where the rattling had stopped and Xander was afraid to breathe too loudly. Right when they got to the door, there was a loud shriek and another loud bang. Both boys crouched down in fear.

“Mommy?” Jesse called out pitifully.

There was a sharp intake of breath behind the closed door and then the sound of a woman sniffling.

“Jesse,” called Jesse’s mom’s voice.

“Mommy, I’m scared,” Jesse called back.

“It’s okay, sweetheart, come on in the kitchen. The cookies are ready.”

Xander nodded encouragingly at Jesse and they got up together and pushed open the door.

The kitchen was a mess, there was food everywhere and pots and pans on the floor. Jesse’s mom was standing by the counter, dishing up cookies.

“What happened, Mommy?” Jesse asked.

She turned around and smiled brightly at them.

“Just a little cooking accident, Jesse. Now you know why I tell you it’s very dangerous to be in the kitchen without an adult. Now…would you boys like some cookies while I clean this mess up?”

Xander nodded eagerly. He loved her cookies. Jesse still looked scared, but he sat down with Xander while his mom poured them both glasses of milk and gave them a cookie each.

“These smell funny,” Jesse said, looking at his.

Xander inspected his closely; after all, it was always important to make sure the cookies were good. Jesse was right, they didn’t smell like the other cookies he’d eaten here and the chocolate chips weren’t the right color.

“They look bad,” Xander agreed, looking up.

Jesse’s mom had an angry look on her face, like the one Xander’s dad had all the time.

“The cookies are fine, dears,” she said in a strained voice like she was trying not to sound angry. “Eat them all up.”

There was a banging sound at the door and Jesse got off his chair and went over to open it.

“Jesse!” his mom shouted, “Get back here right now!”

“But the door,” he said, hand on the knob.

She shook her head and reached for him. He dodged aside at the last second and she went right out the door he’d opened. There was a loud scuffling sound and a big bang and then another shriek and some sizzling noises and then she came back inside, her hair was all raggedy around her shoulders and she looked scared.

Jesse didn’t look scared anymore though so Xander went back to his cookie even if it did look wrong.

“No, dear,” she said loudly and grabbed his cookie and Jesse’s and put them in the trashcan. “The cookies were bad. I’ll make some new ones.”

“I said they smelt bad,” Jesse said and hugged her ankles.

She clutched him to her and sighed a little, as if telling herself he was really there.

“Yes, they were bad cookies, but they’re gone now and I’m here.”

“What about Auntie Cissy?” Jesse asked.

She pursed her lips and didn’t say anything for a few minutes.

“Aunt Cissy is gone now, for a long, long time. I don’t think we’ll see her for awhile.”

“Why?” Jesse asked even though Xander knew Jesse didn’t like his Aunt Cissy and wouldn’t care.

“Because,” his mom said. “Now, you two go play while I clean up in here and make some more cookies. Just remember, boys, always trust your senses.”

Jesse looked at Xander who shrugged and they went back to playing. Soon, the smell of actual cookies drifted into the room and that was all Xander cared about.

They sat down at the counter with their milk and cookies and they smelled good and they were the right color and Jesse’s mom was humming like she always did and pretty soon Xander forgot anything had been scary before.


	2. Fieldtrip of Doom

Fieldtrip of Doom

Willow shifted from one foot to the other and tried not to cry. She hated new things. Today was school and she didn’t know if she would like it. There were other kids and other kids usually laughed at her. Her mom said it would be okay, but her mom didn’t always know what was okay and what wasn’t.

“Willow, for goodness sake, stop fussing so. It’s just kindergarten, you’ll be fine.”

Her mom grabbed her hand and hurried her along through the crowd of people.

“Mommy, too fast,” Willow cried out, tripping over her shoes.

“You’re too big to carry,” her mom said briskly, but slowed down a bit.

When they got to the room, Willow hid behind her mom’s legs and peeked around at all the kids running around, laughing, playing, and talking loudly.

“Hello, you must be Willow,” said the teacher, bending down and shaking her hand.

Willow ducked her head shyly and nodded.

“Go and play, Willow, while I talk to your teacher,” her mom said. “I’ll pick you up after school.”

Willow looked wide-eyed at the vast expanse of room and didn’t know where to go, but she knew better than to tag along with her mom.

She walked slowly to where some other girls were drawing at a table. The centermost girl was dressed in a beautiful dress with ribbons in her hair and buckled shoes.

“Hi,” she said, when Willow walked up to them. “You want to color?”

“Sure,” Willow said quietly and sat down. "I'm Willow."

“I’m Cordelia,” the other girl said, pointing to herself. “This is Harmony. That’s Aura. How much money does your daddy make?”

“I don’t know,” Willow said, choosing an orange crayon.

“You should know,” Cordelia said. “It’s very important.”

“I’m sorry,” Willow offered.

“You can always find out later,” Cordelia said, bending down to her picture. “Let’s see who can stay in the lines the best.”

Willow stayed in the lines perfectly and that seemed to make Cordelia happy. Willow wished she could go home. Cordelia was loud and even if she seemed to like Willow, there was something about her that Willow wasn’t sure about.

Cordelia told her to sit with them when the teacher finally called the class to order and Willow obeyed.

She liked the teacher, but she wished she could sit somewhere else. But she followed Cordelia around all day anyway except that Cordelia had special classes in the afternoon and Willow didn’t know how someone could have special classes in kindergarten, but Cordelia did.

So she was all alone after lunch and that was okay because she was feeling dizzy. The teacher came and talked to her, trying to get her to mingle with the other kids during the afternoon play time, but Willow just wanted to sit quietly and figure things out in her head.

The sound of laughter interrupted her and she turned to see two boys laughing over a truck in the corner. One of them caught her looking at them and flashed her a huge smile. She turned away quickly in embarrassment, but pretty soon she was looking at them again.  
The other one waved at her and she waved back.

“Come here,” he said, waving urgently at her.

“What?” she asked, walking over.

“What’s your name?” he asked.

“Willow.”

“That’s like a tree,” said the first boy who grinned at her.

“So?” she asked, genuinely confused.

“I’m Jesse,” he said.

“I’m Xander,” said the second boy.

“What’s so funny?” she asked.

“Jesse said you were pretty cause of your hair,” Xander said, whispering.

“Shut up!” Jesse said, shoving him.

Xander just grinned and then grinned at her and Willow found herself grinning back.

“Play with us,” Xander told her.

“I don’t like trucks,” Willow said, “but I can color here.”

She grabbed a sheet of paper and some crayons and sat down at the table near their improvised racecourse and colored happily while she listened to them bicker and play. Occasionally one of them would call over to her and ask her questions or have her decide who was right. She felt better than she had all day.

Until she broke the yellow crayon and then she felt horrible, like she’d done something really bad. Her mother would not be happy and maybe they wouldn’t let her come back and everyone would think she was stupid and the boys would laugh at her and before she knew it, she was crying.

“Willow, what’s wrong?” Xander asked.

“I-I broke the crayon,” she said, holding it up guiltily.

“That’s silly,” Xander said. “I break stuff all the time. So does everyone.”

“It’s okay,” Jesse said, taking the crayon from her. “I’ll say I broke it.”

Willow’s eyes widened and she stopped crying. 

“You would lie?” she asked incredulously.

“For you,” Jesse told her seriously.

Xander nodded.

“Me too. And I’ll even hug you.”

He gave her a quick hug and then let her go really fast, but he had still hugged her.

“Now you got girl cooties,” Jesse teased, shoving Xander.

“Shut up!” Xander said, shoving back.

“Boys!” said the teacher, swooping into the middle of them. “That’s enough.”

“We’re not doing anything,” they said together.

“Willow, were they bothering you?” asked the teacher, turning to her with concern and bending down to wipe away Willow’s tears.

“No, they’re my best friends,” Willow said and she meant it.

The two boys grinned at her and Willow was happy to come back tomorrow.

Cordelia loudly protested Willow sitting with Xander and Jesse instead of her and started being really mean, making Willow cry.

“My mother said your family’s really poor,” Cordelia said like that was a really bad thing.

“I-I don’t care,” Willow said, tears falling rapidly.

“Don’t you be mean to her,” Xander said loudly, standing in front of Willow.

“Yeah,” Jesse said, “Willow’s nice and you’re mean.”

“At least I’m not poor,” Cordelia said, flouncing away in another beautiful dress.

“She’s stupid,” Xander said.

“Yeah,” Jesse agreed. “I don’t ever want to like her.”

“Thank you,” Willow said and the boys turned and looked at her funny.

“For what?” they asked and then started playing again.

So Willow liked kindergarten because she had friends and they were nice to her and the teacher was kind and she got to learn things she never could at home because her parents didn’t have time to listen to her questions.

One day the teacher said they were going on a fieldtrip to a museum and Willow was really excited.

“Museums are boring,” Xander said on the bus.

“But we’re not in the school,” Jesse said, from across the aisle. 

He and Xander had argued about who would sit with her and Xander had won, making Willow feel really happy that both of them wanted to.

“That’s cool,” Xander said.

Willow thought museums were cool, but she didn’t say anything. 

When they got inside and were all listening to the tour guide, Willow hungrily looked at all the displays. Everything was big and old and amazing and she couldn’t wait to know all about it.

“Stay close,” the teacher told them and smiled.

There was a display up ahead of them with a bunch of rocks and a skeleton of an animal of some kind and Willow hung back a little. The tour guide brought them around it pointing to displays on the back wall, but Willow couldn’t help but look at the skeleton.

The boys were shoving and whispering to each other and Willow couldn’t hear what they were saying.

“You grab it,” Jesse whispered and Xander gulped.

Willow’s eyes widened as Xander leaned back and pulled one of the rocks off the display behind them. Willow blinked at the sudden light that filled her eyes.

“Boys!” the teacher said, turning around as Xander stepped back. “Please be quiet and pay attention.”

“You should put that back!” Willow whispered urgently.

“It was a dare, Willow,” Xander said. “I can’t put back a dare.”

“It’s just a rock, Willow,” Jesse said. “It’s okay.”

“What if someone finds out?”

“They won’t unless you tell.”

“Just be careful,” Willow said and edged away from the display until the boys were standing between her and it.

The rest of the fieldtrip was spoiled for her by the knowledge of the theft, but she did learn a lot and the boys behaved themselves until the end, seemingly chastised by how uncomfortable she was.

When they passed that room again she glanced in and stopped for a minute because it looked like the skeleton was gone from the display case.

“Where is it?” she asked.

“They’re just cleaning it or something,” Xander said.

“They don’t clean skeletons, dummy,” Jesse said.

“You’re the dummy,” Xander replied and then both of them started calling each other names, seemingly forgetting about the skeleton.

On the bus ride, Xander pulled out the rock and started playing with it. Willow shrunk away to look out the window.

It was starting to get dark, but she noticed something running in the bushes beside the bus and stared at it.

“Xander, look,” she said, pointing.

He looked over and raised an eyebrow.

“Big dog.”

“It’s really big,” Willow said, feeling nervous.

“It’s just an animal and we’re inside,” Xander said, patting her hands.

“This was a big day,” Willow said, feeling scared and panicky. “You-you stole that rock and now there’s an animal-"

“Hey, Willow, it’s okay,” Xander said. “It’s my rock, but I’ll get rid of it if you want, look.”

He opened the window over her and threw the rock out the window.

“That was your dare!” Jesse protested from across the aisle, but Xander shrugged and pointed at Willow.

Jesse sighed and folded his arms, but didn’t say anything.

Willow felt better, but she was still looking out the window and for a minute she thought she saw something huge run into the road right where Xander threw the rock, but when she blinked there wasn’t anything there and nothing was running beside the bus.

She felt sleepy so she closed her eyes and let her head tilt against the window.

The last thing she heard before she fell asleep was Xander and Jesse, laughing and arguing and she smiled before she slept.


	3. The We-Hate-Cordelia Club is Formed

Jesse was fuming as he walked along. He was on his way over to Willow’s house to study because he couldn’t understand the math problems their 4th grade teacher had set for that day and his mom said he could.

That wasn’t why he was mad though. He was mad because Cordelia and her friends had been making fun of him again today. At recess Cordelia had laughed at his shoes and told everybody about how his dad had lost his job and Jesse wanted to hit her, but his mom told him never to hit people.

“Are you okay?” Willow asked when he got to her house.

“No!” he yelled. “I hate Cordelia. She’s horrible. She should get kicked and hit and made fun of and-and-and burnt alive!”

Willow’s eyes got really wide and she glanced around furtively as if she was looking for her parents, which she usually was, Jesse knew.

“You shouldn’t say things like that,” she said, patting his shoulder. “I know she makes you mad, but nobody should be burnt alive.”

“All the other things then,” Jesse grumbled unrepentantly. 

“Come inside and get out your stuff. Xander will be here later, okay?”

Jesse set all his stuff down and plopped into a chair huffily. He felt a little bit better having vented a bit, but he was still angry and the last thing he wanted to do was math.

“If I help it will go faster,” Willow said. “Then we can do something fun. My mom said she’d be home before dark and maybe we’ll get a better dinner this time.”

“Better than at Xander’s,” Jesse said and he and Willow shared a significant look.

Out of the three of them, Jesse’s house was definitely the favorite hangout spot, but his dad was on a business trip and his mom was at a meeting all day long. Usually his mom made sure Willow’s mom was going to be home before she let him stay there after that one time where they’d nearly set the house on fire, but today he’d managed to distract her long enough with his math woes that she didn’t ask.

Willow was really good at explaining things, almost better than the teacher. Plus, she was more fun. So Jesse listened to her and begrudgingly did his homework and put it aside so his mom could check it over before school tomorrow.

Xander arrived in the middle of their work and made a big fuss out of waiting for them to finish until Willow got out of him that he had work to do as well.

“But I’ve got a big surprise,” he whined.

“We do school first,” Willow said and because Xander always bowed down to Willow’s wishes in the end, they did school first.

But finally everyone was done with school and Jesse spent a few minutes sourly wondering how many of their classmates were actually doing homework instead of playing right now. He bet Cordelia was being fed dinner with a silver spoon while a maid did her homework for her. He hated Cordelia so much. So what if she was pretty and smart and rich and popular, she was snobby and mean and horrible even more.

His thoughts about Cordelia were interrupted by Xander looking furtively around them and bringing out a black book from his backpack.

“I found it in the trash,” he whispered.

Willow and Jesse bent over the book. It was old and smelt funny and the lettering on the cover was really faded, but Jesse could see it said something about the deepest occult.

“It’s a magic book,” Willow said, eyes wide.

Xander nodded.

“Do you think we should look inside?”

“Of course,” Jesse said, extremely excited.

“I don’t know,” Willow said, looking around again.

“Come on, Will,” Xander said, begging. “It won’t hurt anything. It’s not real, it’s just cool cause our parents would have a fit if they knew we were looking at it. Be adventurous and stuff.”

“Fine,” Willow said and put her resolve face away.

Xander cracked open the book and they all looked down together.

Jesse started laughing when they looked and saw that it was a book of spells.

“We should use this on Cordelia,” he said, picturing her all covered in warts.

“That’s mean,” Willow said, but she didn’t look unhappy at the idea.

"It's perfect," Xander said. "I'll say something first." He grabbed the book and opened up the page to something about warts and Jesse high fived him. Xander read out loud, stumbling over the words. "Mittent verrucas super eam…ut femineo liber non erit umquam."

He started shivering as the lights flickered overhead.

“I don’t like this,” Willow said, looking scared.

Jesse looked around and noticed that it was a lot darker outside than he thought it should be.

“This book is stupid,” he said for Willow’s sake. “Let’s think of something else to make Cordelia pay.”

“Yeah,” Xander said, looking at Willow, “it’s a cool book, but not real or anything. We should play a prank on her or something.”

“Okay,” Willow said, perking up now that the book was closed. “We have to be really organized though and not get caught.”

“We could form a club,” Jesse said, jubilated. “We can have meetings of it, the We-Hate-Cordelia club. I get to be president.”

“What’s the job where they handle all the money?” Xander asked, seemingly getting caught up in the idea.

“The treasurer,” Willow replied, looking less and less scared every second.

The lights flickered again.

“I want to be that,” Xander said.

“But we won’t have any money,” Willow said.

“Doesn’t matter,” Xander said. “Any money that does come in is all mine. Don’t be a spoilsport, Will.”

“What do you want to be?” Jesse asked her, feeling more relaxed himself than a few minutes before.

“The secretary,” Willow said after a minute or two. “I want to write a lot.”

“We should have our first meeting,” Xander said. “And then come up with a prank to pull on her.”

“I call this meeting to order cause I’m president,” Jesse said, remembering something he’d seen on tv once. “Willow, you have to write down everything we say.”

“I am,” she said, already pulling out a pad of paper.

They argued for a bit about whether to keep the name We-Hate-Cordelia, but it eventually stuck and then Willow vetoed most of the pranks Jesse and Xander suggested because she thought they were too mean or likely to get them suspended or expelled from school or grounded by their parents. 

Before Jesse knew it an hour had gone past and when he looked outside the window everything seemed lighter and the lights weren’t flickering anymore. He figured maybe their spell had a time limit on it or something and they hadn’t finished it anyway.

His mom called about 6:30 and when she learned they were there by themselves she scolded him and told them she was coming over to take all three of them over to Jesse’s house.

Xander hid the magic book in his backpack before she got there and then they listened to Jesse’s mom tell them never to do that again before she got them a really good dinner and let them watch tv.

“What are you gonna do with the book?” Jesse asked Xander in a low voice while Willow was in the bathroom.

“Gonna throw it in the trash again,” Xander said, then asked seriously. “Do you think it worked?”

“Magic isn’t real,” Jesse said, but then he remembered the flickering lights. “We’ll look at Cordelia tomorrow. If she’s got warts tomorrow we’ll know it worked and you don’t have to throw it away, okay?”

“Deal,” Xander agreed. 

They didn’t say anything to Willow when she got back, but Jesse and Xander exchanged grins behind her back when Willow’s mom came to get her.

The next day Jesse was almost eager to get to school, but when they got there, Cordelia was fine, even more high and mighty than usual, and verbally lashed at all three of them before they even got into the classroom. Xander and Jesse exchanged glances again.

“Well, it’s all fake then,” Jesse said later.

“Yeah, I already threw away the book,” Xander agreed.

“We’ve still got the club anyway,” Jesse said, brightening up.

“Yeah,” Xander agreed, “even if that’s not as cool as magical powers.”

“Yeah,” Jesse said.

Willow walked over to them with tight lips and a wounded expression.

“What happened?” Jesse asked, instantly protective.

“The usual,” Willow offered, looking back over her shoulder at Cordelia.

“You know what I’m thinking?” Xander asked, flinging an arm around her shoulders.

“What?” Willow asked.

“I think it’s time for the second meeting of the We-Hate-Cordelia club,” Xander replied, winking at Jesse.

“Totally,” Jesse said, grinning. “As president, I call this meeting to order.”

Willow smiled at both of them and Jesse suddenly didn’t mind so much that they didn’t have magical powers. They had a club and that was pretty cool, too.


	4. Night Out on the Town

“What do you think high school will be like?” Xander asked, kicking at a can on the road.

“Xander, you should throw that in the trash,” Willow admonished.

“Will, he’s asking a totally legit question,” Jesse told her. “Stop worrying about the environment for a second. Do you think Cordelia got any hot-meaner over the summer?”

Xander and Willow exchanged glances. They were very worried about their friend. Once the most vehement against Cordelia, Jesse’s hormones had appeared during the summer and a chance encounter at the mall had sent him mooning over her till they wanted to scream.

“We need to have an intervention,” Xander whispered softly in Willow’s ear and she blushed.

“R-right,” she whispered back. “Definitely.”

“But tonight we party,” Xander said, throwing his head back. “Tomorrow we start high school.”

“I hope the classes are okay. What if the teachers are mean?” Willow said, her worried face on.

“Relax, Will,” Jesse said, slinging an arm around her shoulders. “You’re smarter than all of the teachers anyway.”

“That’s not even close to true,” Willow said reproachfully.

The two boys exchanged glances over her head and sighed.

“Still with the partying,” Xander reminded everyone. “Jesse, what did your mom say about us hanging out?”

“Shook her head and told me to be careful and to make sure I had my rosary with me,” Jesse said, sounding confused. “Don’t know why she’s always so concerned about it, it’s not like we’re that religious a family.”

“Your mom’s got pretty unique habits,” Willow said. “But she’s really nice.”

“Don’t forget the cookies,” Xander said.

Willow laughed at him. 

“ ‘Just be safe, Jesse, or I won’t ever make you cookies again,' " Jesse said in a high voice.

“There have been all those rumors about kids disappearing,” Willow said nervously, glancing around them.

“Not three all together and not when two of the three are very macho guys,” Xander said.

Willow raised her eyebrow at this but didn’t say anything.

“Are we going to the Bronze?” Jesse asked.

“Yup,” Xander said. “We’re gonna get our Bronze on first, then ice cream, then the traditional We-Hate-Cordelia egging of her house.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t do that this year?” Jesse said.

“You’re the president, man,” Xander said. “You’re not allowed to not. It’s like in those special rules.”

“The bylaws,” Willow said helpfully.

“Fine, but we cannot get caught,” Jesse said firmly.

The three friends entered the Bronze and began to dance.

“Is it just me or is the Bronze cooler now that we’re in high school?” Xander asked.

“Probably just you,” Willow said sympathetically. “It’s still too crowded.”

“I’ll get you a drink,” Jesse said, eying the counter where Cordelia and her entourage could be seen lounging.

Xander and Willow rolled their eyes as Jesse meandered over to Cordelia and returned moments later, looking like a kicked puppy.

“Shot you down, huh?” Xander asked.

“Like a dog,” Jesse answered. “Maybe a little egging wouldn’t hurt.”

“That’s my boy,” Xander said. 

Willow nudged them and pointed across the dance floor.

“Check out the moves on that guy.”

“Slut-o-rama,” Jesse said, mouth hanging open.

Across the room some guy had his hands and other body parts all over one of the girls from their school.

“Her mom would be so mad,” Willow said, eyes wide.

They danced some more and Willow enjoyed her drink and then they decided they needed to get going. Kelsey and her new dance partner were just ahead of them as they walked out the door and the trio lingered at the door to dispose of their trash and get coats on, at least in Willow’s case.

There was a scream ahead of them and a loud banging and they looked at each other and then ran as one toward the sound.

“Was that Kelsey?” Willow asked, panting as she ran.

They rounded the corner and there was nothing there, just a trashcan that had been knocked over.

“We didn’t imagine the screaming,” Jesse said softly, looking around.

“What should we do? Call the cops?” Xander asked. “We could get on tv with our eye witness report!”

“We didn’t witness anything, Xander,” Willow said practically. “There’s no crime to report. But maybe we should tell someone at the Bronze.”

They did, walking back and telling the bartender who wrote it down and stuck it next to a lot of similarly looking reports on a bulletin board behind him.

“Ice cream next,” Jesse said.

“Lead the way,” Xander said eagerly. They walked closely together as if in unspoken agreement to not separate. “We should cut through here,” Xander said, pointing to Restfield cemetery.

“No way, man,” Jesse said. “My mom would literally kill me. She doesn’t do cemeteries and she doesn’t let me.”

“Your mom’s not here,” Xander said.

“No, I don’t want to,” Willow said, looking scared.

Xander put his arm around her and she relaxed.

“Will knows best. Come on.”

They made it to the ice cream shop and everyone got their usual and split the bill three ways.

They made their way outside in the cool air. The owner of the shop closed down behind them and they ate their ice cream on the wall outside of the shop.

“I hope this doesn’t change tomorrow,” Willow said.

“What doesn’t change?” Jesse asked, wordlessly holding out his hand for her leftover cone and absently crunching on it when she handed it to him with the air of one doing something so familiar they don't even have to think about it anymore.

“Us, hanging out, eating ice cream,” Willow said. “People always say high school changes things.”

“Not us,” Xander said, hopping off the wall and automatically helping her down.

“Not ever,” Jesse said, mouth full of cone.

“But you don’t know that,” Willow said in a low voice. “You can’t know the future.”

“We lasted this long,” Jesse said, smiling at her. “We can take a little high school.”

“Even if Cordelia suddenly decided to date you?” Xander asked in a teasing voice.

Jesse looked up sharply at that, spitting out some of his food.

“Uh, not happening. Not ever. She’s bad – we hate her.”

“Just making sure,” Xander said, laughing. 

Willow hid her smile behind her hands.

There was a loud banging noise from behind the ice cream shop and their heads snapped toward the noise.

“It’s one of those nights,” Jesse said, going around to investigate.

There was glass broken in the back windows of the shop, but otherwise nothing else was out of order.

They found a pay phone and Xander left an anonymous tip for the police.

“My mom ever found out I’d witnessed so many crimes tonight, she’d never let me out again,” Jesse said.

“There weren’t any crimes witnessed,” Willow reminded him.

They went to the store and purchased some eggs, not enough to cause suspicion, they were good at it after all these years, and they always bought from different stores and did it on different nights so they wouldn’t get caught, under Willow’s instructions.

Tonight was no different, a complete success, and they paid special attention to the car they knew Cordelia’s father had gotten for her when she wasn’t even supposed to be driving yet.

“Success,” Jesse said, laughing as they ran away.

“We have the best club ever,” Xander said.

“Aren’t we too old for clubs?” Willow asked.

“You’re joining the computer club at school, aren’t you?” Jesse asked.

“Yeah.”

“Then we’re not.”

“Your logic is impeccable, sir,” Xander said, slapping him a high five.

They were nearing the cemetery again and suddenly heard screaming.

“This is one crazy night,” Jesse said and raced into the cemetery without any further thought.

“Your mom’s gonna kill you,” Willow said, panting behind him.

“Somebody else sounds like they’re getting killed,” Jesse said.

They ran toward the sound of the screaming but couldn’t find it.

“Over there!” Xander shouted, pointing. 

A shadow raced along behind a mausoleum and seemed to be dragging something.

“There’s fresh dirt here,” Willow said. “Like someone disturbed a grave.”

“This is weird,” Jesse said.

“I’m scared,” Willow said. “We should go.”

The screaming had stopped and though Xander went behind the mausoleum, he couldn’t find anything.

“I know for a fact that the SunnyD PD won’t investigate any more strange things happening in the cemetery,” Xander said. “It was on the news and everything.”

“Yeah, I remember that report,” Jesse said. “Well, we better vamoose before my mom somehow clairvoyantly knows I was in here.”

“Yes,” Willow said, voice trembling. 

They each grabbed her one of hands as they hurried out.

Willow’s house was first on their way home.

“Tomorrow morning is gonna be the best,” Xander said, hugging her.

She smiled wanly. 

“You promise?”

“We promise,” Jesse said. “You have to help us pass all our classes anyway.”

“We’d be lost without the Willow knowledge,” Xander agreed.

“You could just study more,” Willow mumbled.

“And miss the one on one tutelage?” Xander asked incredulously.

She smiled at them both.

“Goodnight. Thanks for everything.”

“Best night ever,” Jesse said.

He and Xander walked toward Jesse’s house where they had an annual day-before-school-starts sleepover.

It was a typical night for the three Sunnydale teenagers.


End file.
